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Learn faltar conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A step by step with detailed explanations

Image of faltar conjugation in Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A
faltar means: to be lacking, to be left, to be missing, to lack, to miss sth

In this lesson we will see how to conjugate the verb faltar in the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A tense of the Subjuntivo mood. It means we will see step by step how to create the following conjugation:

yohubiera faltado
hubieras faltado
él/ella/ustedhubiera faltado
nosotros/nosotrashubiéramos faltado
vosotros/vosotrashubierais faltado
ellos/ellas/ustedeshubieran faltado

The aim of these lessons is to show as much as possible the logic behind spelling corrections and exceptions. That way the amount of stuff which needs to be learned by heart will be minimized and the learning process will be much more effective. It means learning quicker and with less effort.

Step by step instructions

Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto A is a compound tense (Spanish: compuesto). It means that all of its inflected forms consist of two words. In Spanish language, there are also simple tenses, where each conjugated verb form is one word long.

A compound tense is indicated by the ending of the auxiliary verb, not by the ending of the main verb, which is the case in Spanish simple tenses.

In the compound tenses, every person’s form consist of two parts:
  • A conjugated form of the auxiliary verb haber. In case of the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, we use the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A (Imperfect Subjunctive A) conjugation of haber
  • Past Participle, which is always the same in every compound tense for a given verb
Image of Compound
Image of falt arSee the conjugation charts to learn how to conjugate the auxiliary verb haber. That’s a separate topic, so for brevity we’ll focus on the parts derived from faltar only here.

In order to create the Participio form, we need a stem and an ending. We use the stem of the infinitive of the main verb, and a single ending, which depends on the conjugation group of the main verb. So we need to start by splitting the infinitive into a stem and an ending. It’s easy to do – just remove two letters from the end of the infinitive to get the ending – one of -ar, -er, -ir. What’s left is the stem.

So for faltar:
  • the stem is: falt-
  • and the ending is: -ar
Based on the ending of the infinitive we can tell that faltar belongs to the -ar verb group. This group, in turn, uses the -ado ending in its Participio form. Putting all that together, our Participio is: faltado.

And now, as we understand how both parts used by this tense are created separately, we can proceed with creating the final conjugation forms.
Image of -ado
Image of Conjugate haber in Pretérito Imperfecto A ...In order to create the first person singular form, we simply take the first person singular form of haber conjugated in Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A, which is hubiera. To that we add the Participio faltado to get hubiera faltado:
  • yo hubiera faltado


Next, to create the form for the second person singular, we again need to take the second person singular form of haber from the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, and that is hubieras. To this auxiliary verb we add the Participio faltado (so the exact same word as previously) to get hubieras faltado:
  • tú hubieras faltado
Similarly, if we want to create the form for the third person singular, we conjugate haber in the Pretérito Imperfecto A tense and we use the corresponding person’s form (third person singular), namely hubiera. Then we also take the same Participio as for all other persons, and putting them together we get hubiera faltado:
  • él hubiera faltado
  • ella hubiera faltado
  • usted hubiera faltado


The first person plural has the form hubiéramos faltado. It’s created by following the same logic as in the other persons. We first take the form of the first person plural from haber conjugation in the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense: hubiéramos. Second, to this word we again add the Participio of faltar: faltado to get hubiéramos faltado:
  • nosotros hubiéramos faltado
  • nosotras hubiéramos faltado
Image of ... create a common Participle ...
Image of ... join them into a compound formAgain, let’s do the same for the second person plural. We have to get the inflected form of the verb haber in the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo A tense, second person plural, and it’s hubierais. Next, we take our unchanged Participio, we join them, and we get hubierais faltado:
  • vosotros hubierais faltado
  • vosotras hubierais faltado


And finally, the last grammatical person on the list, the third person plural, has the form hubieran faltado. We create it in the exact same manner as in all the other grammatical persons. We need the third person plural of haber first, from its Pretérito Imperfecto A conjugation. It is hubieran. We add the Participio of faltar again (faltado) to get hubieran faltado:
  • ellos hubieran faltado
  • ellas hubieran faltado
  • ustedes hubieran faltado

That’s it! The conjugation is now complete. But don’t end your session yet – it is very important to repeat and practice the material in order to remember it. Check below for some links.

Next Steps

  • To practice this conjugation and test yourself try this Conjugation Exercise or the Memory Game
  • To see other conjugation lessons for this verb choose another tense:  
  • For exercises and examples related to faltar visit our Exercise section
  • To see conjugation charts in all tenses for faltar visit the Conjugator
  • To explore other learning materials visit the Study section


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